History of Monroe, (Orange County) New York United States of America

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Biographies:

Thomas Benton Brooks, engineer, was born at Monroe, Orange county, N.Y., June 15, 1836. He studied engineering at Union college, and finished the required course in that branch in 1858. He volunteered in the Union army at the outbreak of the civil war, and served first as captain of engineers, later as major and aide on General Gillmore's staff, and at the close of the war was brevetted colonel. In 1869 he was appointed on the geological surveys at Lake Superior, and in this connection wrote vols. i. and ii. of "Geological Survey of Michigan" (1873), and a portion of the third volume of "Geology of Wisconsin" (1879). He resigned in 1879, and died at New Windsor, N.J., Nov. 22, 1900.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

John Dean Caton, jurist, was born in Monroe, N. Y., March 19, 1812; son of Robert and Hannah (Dean) Caton. He attended the district school for a few years, and in 1829 entered the academy at Utica, where he paid especial attention to mathematics and surveying. In 1833 he went to Chicago and established himself in his profession, being the second lawyer to practise in that city. In 1841 he was appointed judge of the supreme court of Illinois, and remained on the bench until his resignation in 1864, holding the chief-justiceship from April to June, 1855, and from 1857 to 1864. From 1852 to 1867 he was president of the Illinois and Mississippi telegraphic company. He travelled widely and devoted much time to natural history. In 1866 Hamilton college conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. He is the author of: A Summer in Norway (1875); The Last of the Illinois and a Sketch of the Pottawatomies (1876); Origin of the Prairies (1876); and The Antelope and Deer of America (1877). He died in Chicago, Ill., July 30, 1895.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor